The authors wrote: “We thought it would be revealing to review our past and current approaches to transparency and financial incentives with a behavioral economics lens, uncover why many of these initiatives have failed to reach the goals pursued, and then discuss how applying behavioral economics principles could inform more effective designs in the future.”
They look at:
The limitations of data.
Choice overload.
Peer comparison.
Goal-proximity effects.
Loss aversion.
(Often irrational) mental accounting.
The writers con conclude: “So, where does this leave us? Healthcare professionals are first and foremost people; by taking into consideration that we are all subject to a complex web of interacting influences and a multitude of cognitive biases, we could do much better at ‘nudging’ decisions and actions to maximize our common goals — better health at affordable costs.”
